okay. you're going to be mad anyway. i can't talk you out of it. that does it for us tonight. we'll see you tomorrow. now it's time for the last word. i can't talk you out of it. "first look" is up next. it's thursday, may 12th. right now on "first look," capitol hill showdown for the leaders of the republican party and the new standard-bearer donald j. trump who says he likely won't release tax returns until after election day. and then a massive explosion that killed 15 and injured 200 was no accident. and humans traveling in a pneumatic tube at the speed of sound and one step closer to civil unions in italy. and pitching gem with pay back. "first look" starts right now. well, good morning. thanks for joining us today. i'm betty nguyen.

a crucial face to face, house speaker paul ryan and congressional republicans will have their highly anticipated meeting with donald trump today. after announcing the endorsement of seven house chairman on the eve of sit down, trump said if we make a deal that will be great. if we don't, we will trudge forward like i have been doing and winning all the time. yesterday nbc's hallie jackson asked speaker ryan if there's a situation in which he would not endorse trump. >> this is a big tent party. there's plenty of room for different disputes in this party. we come from different wings of the party. the goal is to unify the various wings of the party around common principles so we can go forward and unify. >> trump has also softened his stance on a host of issues calling his muslim ban, just a suggestion. planning fund-raisers and now reversing course on his own tax return, suggesting he will not release them if an irs audit is

not finished by november. he said, there's nothing there. here's an exchange heed with fox's greta van susteren on the issue. >> you said that you don't intend to release your tax returns and back -- >> no, i didn't they. i said i'm being audited. >> what about the returns not audited -- >> no, there's a link. >> how far back are you being audited? >> i don't know. long enough that it would matter. hopefully before the election i'll release them. meanwhile, mitt romney came out with a strongly worded facebook post against trump that says in part, quote, it's disqualifying for a modern day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service. there is only one logical explanation for mr. trump's refusal to release his returns -- there is a bombshell in them. well, as for the irs it says

there's nothing preventing individuals from sharing their own taxes. on the democratic side we go, the sanders campaign stumbles with the resignation of his california state director just weeks before the state's crucial primary. the camp has replaced that aide, but not before widespread speculation that the campaign may be in free-fall. msnbc's chris hayes spoke to sanders last night about his past forward. >> if we do really well, i know it's an uphill fight and we have been fighting an uphill fight since the day i got into the campaign, but if we do really like west virginia last night we have a chance to go into the convention with delegates voted by the people than hillary clinton. >> as for hillary clinton, fbi director james comey says he feels pressured to complete the federal investigation into her primary e-mail server

competently and quickly. it's similar to other high profile case, we want to do it well and do it promptly. but he indicated the upcoming presidential race is not impacting the speed of the investigation saying, i don't tether to any external deadline. three years after a catastrophic explosion at a fertilizer plant in west texas that killed 15 people and injured over 200 and levelled nearby homes and businesses, there's stunning news that it was a criminal act caused by a fire that was intentionally set. officials have concluded that. now investigators are trying to figure out who did it. janet shamlian has detail. >> reporter: this shows the moment of explosion. >> you okay? >> i can't hear. >> reporter: in the small town of west texas, a massive blast to the city's fertilizer plant. >> firefighters down. again, there's been an explosion, there are firefighters down. >> reporter: 15 people were

killed including a dozen first responders. >> we need every ambulance question can get. we have a lot of firemen down. >> reporter: 200 were hurt, hundreds of buildings were ripped apart, including house, apartments, schools and a nursing home. now officials say it was intentionally set. a preventible criminal act. >> we came to the cop -- conclusion after we ruled out natural causes. >> reporter: three years and 400 interviews at a cost of more than $2 million. and it's ongoing. a $50,000 reward authorities will hope will lead to the arrest. initial findings by the u.s. chemical safety board faulted the company for failing to prevent the fire and regulatory groups for not identifying the hazard. a community of 2,800 was almost unrecognizable. piles of rubble and a crater 15 feet deep. with no word it was no accident, heart break for those trying to rebuild their lives.

janet shamlian, nbc news, houston. all right. so picture this. a passenger travel in a pneumatic tube at nearly the speed of sound. a company called hyper loop successfully tested the futuristic hyper loop system. it uses magnetic levitation or maglev technology and it raced down the track going from 0 to 60 in 1.1 seconds before being stopped by a patch of sand. the goal is to get to 400 miles an hour in two seconds. the expected top speed is 750 miles per hour. and the company's founder says the test shows that the technology already in use can be used more cheaply. their goal is to have a full test of the sled in the tube by the end of the year and passengers by 2021. fasten your seat belts, folks. three separate car bombs killed 93 people in baghdad. isis has claimed responsibility for all three attacks.

this marks the deadliest day for the iraqi capital this year. more than 160 people were also wounded. the largest attack came in a crowded outdoor market where 63 people were killed including multiple brides-to-be who were getting ready for their weddings. iraq's interior ministry blamed it on political bickering. the u.s. has condemned the attacks. james comey says fewer americans are joining isis and this the power of the -- and that the power of the extremist's group brand has diminished in the u.s. and more information on the planned parenthood, and the killer may never face trial. robert deer declared he was guilty in the court. a judge has ruled that he's not

mentally competent enough to stand trial. charged with 179 counts, he will be sent to a mental institution for treatment and the case will be put on hold. deer's mental status will be reviewed again in august. massachusetts state police are investigating an officer involved beating caught on camera. it happened after a high speed chase that ended in new hampshire. the pickup truck stops after plowing two tires and the driver gets out and drops to his hands and knees and then officers began to punch him. state police say the 50-year-old man was wanted on assault and larceny charges. they will now try to determine whether the level of force used during the arrest was appropriate. time now to get down to business with cnbc's landon dowdy. good morning. >> hi there, betty. good morning to you. the markets they try to tread water today after stocks sank on wednesday. wall street giving back all of tuesday's gains. the dow has its worst day in three months and the nasdaq

snapping a three day winning streak on disappointing news from disny. meanwhile, apple is denying reports it's trying to phase out down loads on itunes. they have been in a steady decline going down to 2.3 billion last year. apple may have plenty of reasons to keep selling them. drake's new album sold 1 million copies in the first week when it was only available on itunes and apple music. google is working on its virtual assistant to rival echo. it's code named chirp it would make ok google available throughout your home. >> competition ramping up. joe biden teams up with prince harry. plus, italy is the last to do it. we'll explain, next. [ nurse ] i'm a hospice nurse.

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well, welcome back to "first

look." thunderstorms are pounding portions of the deep south this morning. hail and heavy rain fell in marion, illinois, flooding some of the roadways. some taking the shelter. this was the scene, look at this sheet lightning, cloud to ground strikes too. that was the fifth straight day of nasty weather in missouri. omaha, nebraska, they got hit by a huge hailstorm and needed a front end loader to clear some of the streets. that is a lot of hail. well, this morning, more big storm, small hail in areas of oklahoma and texas and mccallister had some storms earlier. dallas in the clear. but big storms north of abilene. we have some storms today. notice i didn't show you pictures of tornados yesterday. we didn't have any reports. as the front moves to the east today, not expecting many if any tornado reports during the day today. for today, the storms are continuing to move towards the

east coast. and that's where we'll be watching the rain. it's not going to be that heavy. at most an inch of rain in west virginia. columbus could get some storms and our friends in cleveland, buffalo and pittsburgh. and down along texas and into the shreveport and memphis. today's forecast, southeast you're dry today. tomorrow is your rain threat. mid-atlantic, kind of cloudy and gloomy and washington, d.c., maybe a dry day today, betty. as we said yesterday, d.c. had 14 days in a row of rainfall. yesterday, they had a little bit and that's 15 days in a row with some rain. >> they could use some sunshine. enjoy the dry weather while you can. all right, celebrations e erupted across rome after the same-sex couples got the ability to share the same last name and inheritance rights. i would fell short of

authorizing gay marriage. an elephant was cured of a mammoth toothache. a dentist placed the big girl to sleep and removed one of the giant molars. look at that thing. 33-year-old lucia is now recovering and eating well minus the molar of course. and j.j. ramberg host of msnbc's your business was on capitol hill yesterday. she testified before the house small business committee about the state of small businesses in the u.s. and her own experience as an entrepreneur. >> there is no doubt as we all at this table know that owning a small business and entrepreneurship is no cake walk. it can be hard. there are many people who struggle and even for those who are very successful, there are a lot of pain points along the way. >> make sure to catch new episodes of "your business" at 7:30 eastern on msnbc. 15 after the hour. matt scherzer struck out 20

batters against his ex-team, the detroit tigers. the 20 strikeouts tie an mlb record held by three other pitchers. he threw an astonishing 126 strikes on 119 pitches and the least amount of pitches and balls in a 20 strikeout game. after the game, which his nats won by the way, 3-2, scherzer said quote, strikeouts are sexy. and to punch out 20 is sexy. all right. one way to put it and now to the nba. steph curry was awarded his trophy by adam silver. the mvp nails the triple to take the lead. in the fourth, under 30 seconds to go, up two, who do you think would get the ball? >> and curry behind the back. three point is up -- oh! curry! >> just ridiculous. as the warriors eliminate the trail blazers. vice president joe biden attended the invictus games yesterday and he thanked the

wounded service members for their sacrifice. american payne won a gold, silver and bronze medal. he lost both legs in battle and he was cheered on by the man who saved his life and elizabeth marx won gold medal on the day. in a touching contribute she asked him to keep the medal as a sign of her appreciation for his work in creating the games. what a beautiful gesture there. so a tense meeting behind closed doors on capitol hill. which presidential candidate is throwing support behind d.c. statehood? "scrambled politics" is next. vo: across america,

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non-insulin victoza®. it's covered by most health plans. 20 minutes past the hour. here's "scrambled politics." it's official, donald trump has now set a new popular vote record for the republican party. he has now received 10.9 million votes. topping former record holder george w. bush's 10.8 million votes in 2000. and there are still seven more primaries on the horizon. ted cruz may butt heads with the trump campaign in texas this weekend as the state holds the republican convention. cruz continues his pursuit of delegates after saying he isn't letting go of them before the convention. the campaign for d.c. statehood got a strong ally in hillary clinton. the democratic front-runner penned an op-ed for the washington informer. she promises to be a vocal

champion for d.c. statehood. the primary is june 14th. a closed door democratic meeting blew up yesterday when alan grayson went after reid for backing another candidate. when grayson was called on to speak, he repeatedly shouted, asking reid if he knew his name. he then produced a printed out news article with a quote from reid criticizes his ethics issues. when grayson asked reid why he gave the quote, he said it's true, i want you to lose. and grayson's statement was calling out the establishment is not always easy an not polite. i had a rare moment to challenge the lies that senator reid spread about me. and reid's office said senator reid expressed his low opinion of congressman grayson to his face. donald trump is now being featured in down ballot ads by democrats hoping to take back the house and senate.

here's part of one airing against republican senator john boosman of arkansas. >> she ate like a pig. >> i looked her in the fat ugly face of hers. >> he sent a picture with the words face of dog written on it. >> and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." all right. 22 minutes past the hour. jonathan allen joins me now from washington. he's head of community and content for side wire and a columnist for roll call. good morning. >> good morning. >> boy that ad was rough, wasn't it? >> a rough ad. i'm more compelled by the alan grayson/harry reid throwdown. >> that got a little nasty. is the gop ready to walk away from trump if he doesn't agree with them or if they don't agree and really focus on governors, senators and house races? >> so two things here. i think, number one in terms of

the republican voters they have spoken loud and clear and they're very few republican elected officials who really want to get in the scrap with donald trump after he's decimated so many well-known republican figure, but on the other hand in terms of donors there's a lot of focus on maintaining the republican majority in the house and perhaps also in the senate. >> well, is mitt romney right here by not releasing donald trump's tax returns, does that disqualify him? >> no, not at all. it's unusual and unorthodox. every presidential candidate in memory has done that. hillary clinton points out she's put out a tax return every year since 1977. but donald trump has set his own rules. i think that he's not doing to hurt himself with his own voters. that said i'm not sure that trump is -- you know, going to be able to win the election in november and, you know, i think -- i don't think anybody will vote on that issue.

i think the people will vote against him will vote against him on other issues. >> well, i want to ask you this. if the irs says there's no problem in releasing the tax returns, what is keeping trump from releasing it? >> i don't think he wants people know how much money he has. >> he's been touting being a billionaire. it doesn't seem like he's ashamed of it. >> i don't think it's the high number, he may not have as much income as he suggested he does. if you see his tax return you'd get a picture of that. >> well, do you think the public would care about this in the sense that this is a guy who's run on a business platform, a man who says i'm a billionaire, i know how to run businesses, i'm going to bring jobs back to this country? >> i think one of the biggest knocks against donald trump is that he's constantly dishonest and so i do think that that's an issue for him. if he were to be shown to not have as much money as he says he does or to -- you know, if there were other things in his tax return that showed him to not be

fully honest. i think that deepens the narrative about him he's not telling the truth. >> interesting stuff. all right, jonathan, thanks so much. we appreciate your insight. >> take care. just ahead, you may have heard the old saying, lightning never strikes twice in the same place. well, one long island man may disagree. (laughing) there's nothing like making their day. except making sure their tomorrow is taken care of too. financial guidance while you're mastering life. from chase. so you can.

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28 minutes past the hour. leading the news on nbc new york, a man hit the lotto twice. he won a $1 million prize yesterday. he first hit in 2012 playing a

scratch off game. then he plans to keep on playing and is crossing his fingers for a third win. can you believe that? >> you know what's the best part of the story? the first time he won, his wife had a ton of medical issues. all the money paid his medical issues and this time they get to everybo enjoy their money. >> that's good. "way too early" is next. but a lot of republicans including paul ryan the speaker of the house and ted cruz said they're not ready to support donald trump which is -- what do you have to do to get ready to support someone? is it like getting bikini ready, shave? >> donald trump says he doesn't need the support of paul ryan and other critical republican, but he's meeting with them today. will the party be able to bridge its divides? plus, hillary clinton has a question. >> and what about his taxes? so you've got to ask yourself, why doesn't he want to release them? well, we're going to find out. and what about that proposed muslim ban?

is trump now looking for a way out? it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. this is "way too early." good morning. it's thursday, may 12th. i'm jonathan capehart. the next few hours will be pivotal for the future of the republican party as leaders in congress come together with the presumptive nominee donald trump to see if they can hammer out their differences and forge a path ahead. we will be giving you live looks at the action in washington, d.c., all morning. but the official agenda gets under way at 9:00 a.m. that's when trump, rnc chairman reince priebus and house speaker paul ryan will meet at republican national committee headquarters near the capitol. at